UN Syria Envoy to Meet Assad as Death Toll Rises

By Dana El Baltaji and Zaid Sabah -
Dec 24, 2012

A top United Nations official met
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today to discuss the 21-
month uprising, a day after an opposition group said government
warplanes bombed a bakery and killed 94 people.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Special Envoy on Syria, met Assad
in Damascus to discuss international efforts toward a cease-
fire. During the meeting, Assad told Brahimi that the government
backs any effort that is in the interest of the Syrian people,
state television reported. The talks were “constructive,” it
said.

International efforts to end the uprising against Assad’s
rule have failed to prevent the country from sliding into more
violence as the government uses heavy weapons to halt the
rebellion. Russia and China blocked two UN Security Council
resolutions to force an end to violence that killed 44,000
people since March 2011, according to the U.K.-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights. Russia has supplied weapons to its
Soviet-era ally throughout the uprising.

Brahimi entered Syria via Lebanon yesterday and traveled to
Damascus, said Press TV, the state-run Iranian television
network, without citing anyone. Assad won’t stand down and won’t
be offered asylum in Russia, according to Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov.

‘Can’t Stay’

Mouaz al-Khatib, head of the main bloc of Syrian opposition
groups, informed Brahimi that Assad can’t stay even without
powers. The comments by al-Khatib, who leads the National
Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, were
posted on his Facebook page.

Syrian warplanes hit a bakery in the town of Halfaya near
Hama yesterday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees
said in an e-mailed statement. Abu Al-Qassim al-Hamawi, an
activist from Hama, told al-Jazeera television in a telephone
interview that hundreds of people had been waiting in line to
buy bread. In all, 184 people were killed by government forces
across the country yesterday, the committees said.

Negotiations are the only way to halt the increasingly
intensive fighting, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on
Syria said Dec. 20. Violence has “increased dramatically” in
and around major cities, particularly Damascus, the capital, and
Aleppo, the commercial hub, the commission said in its latest
update. It found numerous incidents of torture, summary
executions and attacks on cultural property.

Syrian rebels battled with government forces today in
suburbs of Damascus, with casualties on both sides, the U.K.-
based Observatory said in an e-mailed statement. Power was cut
to many districts in the capital, the group said on its Facebook
page.

Russia’s Invitation

In a bid to revive mediation efforts, Russia has invited
Brahimi to Moscow this month, according to Lavrov. It has also
asked al-Khatib to hold talks with Russian representatives to
discuss a peaceful solution, he said.

Assad, whose forces have suffered recent setbacks at the
hands of the rebels, vowed last month that he won’t flee. He
approved the nation’s 2013 budget of 1.38 trillion pounds ($19.5
billion), Syrian state television said yesterday.

Syria is “the last stronghold of secularism and stability
in the region,” Assad said in an interview with Russian state
broadcaster RT last month. “I have to live and die in Syria.”